You'll be anything but comatose Friday night in North Tahoe

Related Media

CRYSTAL BAY, Nev. - Brothers Alex and Ben Morrison of the Brothers Comatose grew up in a house that was known for its music parties.

"The Morrison house was a gathering place for local musicians; everyone would bring an instrument, call out tunes, call out changes, and just play for hours," says Brothers Comatose bassist and Morrison music party goer, Gio Benedetti. "I learned more in that living room than in any class I ever took."

The brothers took this generous, inclusive and rowdy attitude and brought it to stages all over San Francisco. With the addition of members Philip Brezina (fiddle) and Ryan Avellone (mandolin), the string quintet brings its original string music and the feel of an intimate music party to audiences all across the United States.

The environment the band creates with its music and live shows isn't the exclusive band vs. crowd world of rock and pop, but rather the sing-along, stomp-along, inclusive world that gave birth to string band music. While playing festivals like Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Strawberry, High Sierra, Outside Lands, Kate Wolf and SXSW, the band has not lost sight of its roots, the fans or its relationships.

Despite the band's name, members are anything but comatose. They toss alligators (inflatable) into the crowd, they hand out chopsticks for audience-percussion-participation, and are known to jump down and play acoustic encores in the middle of the crowd at the end of a set.